5 Ways TRX Training is Beneficial for Surfing

Marin Lazic sufing in Mentawais - September 2016

Surfing is about far more than just waiting for the ideal wave. Surfing conditions can change in a flash and test even the most patient and resilient surfer. This makes the need for power crucial to success (and safety), as well as a number of other key attributes.

Surfers require upper body strength for paddling and pushing up on the board, flexibility and range of motion to adapt to changing conditions in addition to balance and core strength. Here’s how TRX training can help improve and develop the surfer’s body in these areas:

Upper Body Strength

More power means a higher ability to catch the perfect waves. Surfers paddle an average of 950 metres while scouting their next swell. Handling this repeatedly requires aerobic, arm, shoulder and upper body development. TRX movements like Push Ups (Atomic and regular), Planks, Side-Planks, Mountain Climbers, Power Pulls and Pikes can all help create the upper body strength needed to paddle as long as it takes. These movements also make the body better able to thrust up on the board at the perfect moment.

Flexibility

Surfers develop a healthy respect for the sea, knowing that it can’t be tamed, predicted or fully known. This requires an ability to adapt to rapidly changing conditions both physically and mentally. High Torso Rotations and the TRX Twist can help build the body’s ability to be versatile and flexible so you can meet changing conditions head on.

Range of Motion

Surfing requires an intuitive range of motion. The ability to stretch, flex and rotate at will is crucial to safety and success as a surfer. TRX is excellent for training on complex rotational movements while suspending the body. Wall Slides, Alligators, the TRX Y Fly and the TRX Power Pull will take your range of motion to new levels.

Balance

Without good balance, a surfer won’t stay on the board for long. Nearly all TRX movements challenge and build both stability and balance, and lower body strength can be targeted with Deep Assisted Squats, the Lateral Lunge, the TRX Curtsy Lunge and the Glute Bridge.

Core Strength

All-around strength is crucial to just about every aspect of surfing, and TRX offers a variety of exercises to train and engage the core in a focused, directed way. TRX training allows you to hit the greater core from just about every angle, from the solar plexus to the back, abs, glutes and obliques. Surfing requires the ability to brace, stabilize and shift the body at a moment’s notice, and core strength is foundational to this. A huge number of the TRX movements can work your core, but the following are particularly beneficial to surfers: Supermans, Planks, Atomic Push Ups, Mountain Climbers, Pendulums and Body Saws.

Surfing requires upper body strength, flexibility, range of motion, balance and core strength. You can use TRX to improve in all of these areas while also reducing the risk of injury by improving circulation, joint health, mobility and endurance.